Rally legend Sebastian Loeb and Cristina Gutiérrez took a comfortable victory in the faster of the two heats on the new Neom layout in Saudi Arabia, with Timmy Hansen and Catie Munnings triumphing in the other heat after a time penalty for defending champions Rosberg X Racing.
In a late format change, the starting order for the heats was determined by single-car sprints earlier in the day. Christine Giampaoli Zonca suffered a suspected fractured ankle during a heavy crash during the sprints, with damage to the car ruling Veloce Racing out of the heats.
The early runners in the sprints benefitted from heavy overnight rain, as the more compact sand made conditions faster. X44 knocked over half a minute of its benchmark time from Friday’s practice running, with Loeb exploring the limits through the downhill section.
But they were pipped to the fastest time by arch-rivals RXR with new signing Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky maintaining a 6s advantage built by team-mate Johan…
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